We’ll cover the latest scientific news in technology, the environment, and the life sciences. This month, we enjoyed spectacular auroras, celebrated a successful gene therapy, and explored the capabilities of a new OpenAI model.
BY DR. EVA HAMRUD: I am a bioinformatician with a primary research interest in stem cell biology. I am also passionate about all areas of scientific research and their communication.
ASTRONOMY
Auroras light up the sky around the world
Scientists and sky-watchers were treated to a beautiful aurora borealis display across Europe, USA and Canada this month (10th-11th May). Even New Caledonians could enjoy the spectacular aurora australis in this record-breaking phenomenon.
What causes auroras?
Aurora borealis, also the northern lights, appear as areas of pink and green colours in the sky and are caused by the collision of charged particles with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. These charged particles come from the sun when it shoots superhot blasts of plasma towards Earth. The charged particles in this plasma only come into contact with Earth’s atmosphere at the poles due to the Earth’s magnetic field. The colours of the aurora depend on where the particles hit the atmosphere, at around 60 miles above the surface green lights are emitted, whilst collisions at higher altitudes can cause red colours.
🌌What causes auroras?
Why has aurora activity increased?
The northern lights can usually only be seen from high latitude regions such as Canada, Northern America, Scandinavia and Iceland. Their increased activity at lower latitudes last week was caused by the most severe solar storm since 2003. This storm resulted in several blasts of plasma being shot from a cluster of sunspots which are 17 times as wide as Earth called “active region 3664”. Due to the number of active sunspots on the surface of the sun facing Earth, scientists expect more solar storms later this year.
BIOLOGY
Wild orangutan treats face wound using medicinal plant
A wild Sumatran orangutan has been observed applying leaves of a medicinal plant to a wound on its face, the first time such behaviour has been seen in non-humans. Scientists from the Max Plank Institute in Germany and the Universitas Nasional in Indonesia published their observations of the orangutan, named Rakus, in Nature Scientific Reports earlier this month. Three days after suffering a facial injury, possibly through fighting another male, the article’s authors observed Rakus ripping off the leaves of a climbing plant called Fibraurea tinctoria which is used in traditional medicine due to its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties.
🐵Tell me about Orangutans and their usage of tools?Rakus chewed on these leaves, but instead of eating them, applied the resulting plant paste onto his wound. After four days, the wound had closed and within a month only a small scar remained. This remarkable discovery has prompted scientists to explore whether topical self-medication occurs across non-humans, and how animals learn these behaviours.
TECHNOLOGY
OpenAI unveils ChatGPT-4o
In its Spring Update on 13th May, OpenAI unveiled its new flagship model called GPT-4o. OpenAI have described GPT-4o as a “step towards much more natural human-computer generation”, with improved capabilities on interacting with text, vision and audio inputs. A live demonstration of GPT-4o’s capabilities highlighted its ability to read facial expressions and to change voice tones on command. It is speculated that this GPT model may be used to create the next generation of AI digital assistants
Note: Consensus Copilot is now using GPT-4o, enjoy faster interactions.
MEDICINE
UK toddler’s hearing restored after breakthrough gene therapy
18-month-old Opal Sandy, who was born deaf, is able to hear people whisper and has begun to speak thanks to breakthrough gene therapy. She is the first patient to be treated in a global gene therapy trial called the CHORD study. This study is being run across the UK, Spain and US to determine the effectiveness of a gene therapy called DB-OTO in treating auditory neuropathy. Auditory neuropathy is a genetic condition often caused by a fault in the OTOF gene, which prevents sound transmission from the inner ear to hearing nerves. Opal was treated with a DB-OTO injection in her right ear shortly before her first birthday. DB-OTO contains the OTOF gene encased in a neutralised virus. Within 4 weeks, Opal responded to sound in her right ear and after 24 weeks had near-normal hearing levels. Around 20,000 people across Europe are deaf due to a mutation in the OTOF gene, and this promising result suggests that gene therapy may offer an alternative option to cochlear implants for these patients.
🧬How does gene therapy work? 🦻Why does the OTOF gene cause hearing problems?
What is gene therapy?
This breakthrough is exciting not just for patients with OTOF gene mutations, but also those suffering from other types of hearing loss. Gene therapy aims to modify a person’s genes to treat disease, see the Consensus summary of the field. In the case of Opal, the gene therapy added a working OTOF gene to compensate for the faulty one. Gene therapies have the potential to cure genetic disorders with just a single treatment and can be personalised to the specific genetic cause of a particular disease. The FDA has already approved some gene therapies to treat conditions such as cancer; however, the full potential of gene therapies remains to be seen..
ENVIRONMENT
2024 may beat 2023 as hottest year on record
This month, India, Thailand and parts of America suffered historic heatwaves, with eastern Mexico experiencing record May temperatures of 51.1°C (124°F) in some regions. Other parts of the world, such as South America, faced their warmest April on record and Europe its second warmest. Last calendar year was confirmed as the warmest since records began in 1850, and a recent a report published in Nature finding that the 2023 summer was the hottest in 2,000 years. The study was based on reconstructions of ancient temperatures from tree rings. Trees can be used to estimate temperatures as their growth is related to seasonal temperatures. The study’s authors say they hope their results will encourage a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
☀️How are we combatting climate change? ⛈️Are severe weather events increasing?
SOCIETY
Analysis of large study finds internet usage may improve wellbeing
Two scientists from the University of Oxford in the UK have recently published their analysis of a large poll of over 2.4 million people which shows that internet access and usage positively correlate with wellbeing. The data used for this study was a large survey carried out by Gallup across 168 countries from 2006 to 2021. Gallup surveyed approximately 1,000 people per country using interviews which included questions about wellbeing, internet access and lifestyle.
One of the questions in the survey asked if the participant had access to the internet, and another asked if the participant had used the internet in the past week. Several survey questions focused on the topic of wellbeing, covering life satisfaction and feelings of purpose. In order to examine the relationship between the answers of these two types of questions, Oxford scientists employed multiverse analysis, using more than 30,000 approaches to analyse the data and also to account for potential confounding factors such as income, health, employment, education and relationship status.
Applying these many approaches to subgroups of participants by country, sex and age-group, the analysis found that individuals who actively used the internet reported greater levels of life satisfaction and other positive wellbeing metrics. On average, positive wellbeing was found to be 5-8% higher in individuals who use the internet. This is with the exception of 15-24-year-old women, for whom a negative association between internet use and community well-being was found. The authors speculate that these individuals may use the internet as a form of escapism.
Although these findings are correlative, and do not necessarily mean that internet usage makes us happy, it is thought to be one of the most comprehensive studies of the relationship between internet usage and wellbeing, and its results suggest an interesting departure from the perceived dangers of the internet.
🌐Does internet access improve health outcomes? 💻 Does internet access reduce poverty?
BIG DATA RELEASE
Global Burden of Disease study from 2021 released
On the 18th May the Lancet released its latest issue of Global Burden of Disease study. This release contains the most comprehensive and up-to-date information on global health data from 2021. There are some exciting predictions within this large dataset; for example, women’s life expectancy is predicted to rise from 76.2 years in 2022 to 80.5 in 2050, and men’s from 71.1 to 76.0 years. The study is available for download and will be a valuable resource for those researching global health.
NATURE ODDITIES
Mediterranean flower cools itself down
A yellow Mediterranean thistle called Carlina corymbosa appears to self-refrigerate, as the temperature inside the flowerhead was found to be several degrees lower than that of the surrounding air nearby. This cooling mechanism may allow the flower to survive harsh Mediterranean summers.
CONSENSUS ANSWER OF THE MONTH
Are electric cars good for the environment?
Electric cars generally offer significant environmental benefits, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved air quality, particularly when powered by renewable energy sources. However, the overall environmental impact also depends on factors such as battery production and disposal, energy source, and supportive policies and infrastructure. While EVs are a promising step towards sustainable transportation, attention to these factors is essential to fully realize their environmental potential.